What could go wrong when ordering pizza?

For some months now it was possible to order pizza for BitCoin in our area. I wanted to give it a try since it was announced. But only last Thursday, I proposed to my coworkers to order pizza. And that I would pay with BitCoin. It was meant as a demonstration how cool the virtual currency is, and that it is actually useful in the real world. I was going to take pictures and blog about it. After all, a pizza deal was the first real use and most famous BitCoin transaction in history.

So I placed the order with lieferservice.ch for pizza’s from Angolo, where we used to go for lunch before. The website was really cool, we could order extra ingredients on top of the regular pizza. Payment was a breeze, as always with BitCoin. It was 11:25 when I placed the order, and I picked 12:30 for the delivery. The email confirmation from lieferservice.ch followed immediately. But when we all grew more and more hungry, I tried to call Angolo at 12:45 to ask where our food was. Nobody answered the phone. I tried again, and again, and again. Nothing, not even an answering machine. After 13:00 we decided we would drive to Angolo with the confirmation email, and eat our pizza in the restaurant. When we arrived, it was closed for holiday.

This is clearly not how this is supposed to work. The guy from lieferservice appologized, and told me their contractors are ment to tell them when they change opening hours. He couldn’t refund me in BitCoin, and asked for my IBAN instead. One of my colleagues was so pissed off, he said he wouldn’t go to Angolo ever again.